Bloggers' contributions can be extremely important to a news story. But before their information can be used it has to be checked by professionals. Only then, only if the information proves to be correct, can it be trusted and used. But times are tough. Newsrooms around the nation are being cut to the bone. Does that mean citizen bloggers who charge nothing are moving in, taking jobs away from the salaried professionals?

These are my very own, real leaked documents about the fact that traditional, general-interest journalism is the crucial cornerstone of democracy and that social media threatens to destroy that cornerstone. They're written by students studying journalism. If you have any interest in Canadian journalism in our Canadian democracy you should read them.

Traditional professional journalism is taking a beating these days. When challenged, both left and right sneer at is as "mainstream journalism," implying that its somehow tainted because it's general interest, rather than some rabidly one-sided screed. So allow me to answer back.

By now, you know most of the gory details of the damage. Ten per cent cut to the CBC. Blood on the floor. From some, wails of anguish. From others, roars of applause. The time of the great networks is over. The Internet and social media have won. But old media can save itself through storytelling.